Busy Does Not Always Mean Productive

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Summary

We all know what busy looks like.  It is piles of papers, phone to the ear, someone wanting our time and stuffing a sandwich in your face while you drive to an appointment and try to get the mayonnaise off your shirt that dripped on there, no doubt while you were changing lanes.   You can’t argue that you are busy, but not so productive.  I know you can picture that.  You may look like a cartoon character.

Here are some sure signs of non-productivity.

#1 – You are always putting out a fire.  You know what this looks like.  Someone has an issue, you stop what you are doing, stop projects and try to solve whatever emergency someone has thrown at you.  This now results in your clients being put on the back burner and eventually they know it and they give up on calling or emailing because they know you won’t respond.  

#2 – You are exhausted but have no idea what you did to get that way.  You know the script: ”hey Joe, how are you?”  “Oh my gosh, so busy, I don’t have time to come up for air”? This is where the conversation ends but if someone asked Joe the next question of “Oh, what are you busy doing” they would get silence, because Joe doesn’t know.

#3 – You are looking for a reward.  If you find yourself complaining about how busy you are and hoping that people will notice how hard you are working being the first at the office and the last to leave, this can be a sure sign of being busy not productive.  You will find the most productive people work the least amount of time and they don’t need the recognition of being the last one there to turn the lights out.

#4 – The title is more important than the work.  Unproductive people are terrified that someone will discover how little they do.  They eat lunch at their desks, they don’t take vacations, they need others to think that they are indispensable.

Being busy is part of our world and can be recognized everywhere, we need to change what we can control.

So, turn your ship around because you are looking to be the most productive person that you can be.  Who wouldn’t want to get more done in less time and have more time to build their next dream, or hang out with your family?  Maybe take that month-long vacation and be confident that everything is going along smoothly while you are gone.

So, if you are anything like me you strive to be anything but average.  We were taught in school that average is a grade of a C. That is not acceptable for high achievers…it’s an A and completing the extra credit that wins the game.

Full Transcript

We are going to talk about the things to evaluate so that you know when you are being your most productive or when you need a kick in the butt and a reset.  Now my husband will tell you that he has the ultimate test to know if he is being productive.  If I call him and ask him where he is or where he is at he knows he is not where he is supposed to be or likely doing anything that I would consider productive.  As true as this is, I am going to try to give you a couple of things to check off your productivity list that may offer a bit more value.  However, if you want to hold your significant other accountable you may want to mess with them and ask “where are you?” or “what are you doing?” question…if nothing else it will make them stop and ask you “why, what am I supposed to be doing”.

I want to give you some true to life signs that you are busy but not productive.  We all know what busy looks like.  It is piles of papers, phone to the ear, someone wanting our time and stuffing a sandwich in your face while you drive to an appt and try to get the mayonnaise off your shirt that dripped on there, no doubt while you were changing lanes. You can’t argue that it is busy, but not so productive.  I know you can all picture what I just described.  When I picture it, it looks like a cartoon character…don’t know why, it just does.

So what is this person doing that we can pinpoint is a sure sign of non-productivity

#1 – You are always putting out a fire.  You know what this looks like.  Someone has an issue, you stop what you are doing, stop projects and try to solve whatever emergency someone has thrown at you.  This now results in your clients being put on the back burner and eventually they know it and they give up on calling or emailing because they know you won’t respond.  

#2 – You are exhausted but have no idea what you did to get that way.  You know the script…”hey Joe, how are you?”  “ Oh my gosh, so busy, I don’t have time to come up for air”?  This is where the conversation ends but if someone asked Joe the next question of “Oh, what are you busy doing”  they would get silence, because Joe doesn’t know.

#3 – You are looking for the reward.  If you find yourself complaining about how busy you are and hoping that people will notice how hard you are working being the first at the office and the last to leave, this can be a sure sign of being busy and not productive.  You will find the most productive people work the least amount of time and they don’t need the recognition of being the last one there to turn the lights out.

#4 – The title is more important than the work.  Unproductive people are terrified that someone will discover how little they do.  They eat lunch at their desks, they don’t take vacations, they need others to think that they are indispensable.

Busyness is part of our world and can be recognized everywhere…we need to change what we can control.

So let’s turn this ship around because you are listening or watching this, I know that you are looking to be the most productive person that you can be.  Who wouldn’t want to get more done in less time and have more time to build their next dream, or hang out with their family?  Maybe take that month-long vacation and be confident that everything is going along smoothly while you are gone.

So if you are anything like me you strive to be anything but average.  We were taught in school that average is a grade of a C.  That is not acceptable for high achievers…it’s an A and completing the extra credit that wins the game.  So let's jump into some indicators that you are way more productive than that average person.

1. You have a plan for handling interruptions.  You know what I am talking about…the phone, outside conversations, interruptions, or office noise.  These are the largest contributors to lack of productive time.  The solution can be one or many things…take that reset break we have talked about.  Learn to say no in a tactful way and ask if it can wait.  I have even at times in my career had a “bunker” that was a separate office from my normal office that if I was working in there it was off limits and everyone knew it.
2. You don’t lose track of time.  Productive people track their time and don’t go down rabbit holes that when they come out they have lost an hour of their day.  They know how long a project should take or how much time they are dedicating to a certain task and time is not their enemy.  You rarely hear a productive person say “where did the time go”…they know exactly where it went because they controlled it.
3. Choose your method of communicating.  Just because the world has thrown cell phones, email, twitter, slack, dm’s, and Im’s and Pm’s and any number of m’s and countless other ways of messaging us, does not mean that we have to play in every one of them.  Make the decision to communicate in a way that is most effective for you.  For example, people know in my world that text or email is the best way to reach me and they will always get a timely response.  I am not afraid to tell people that if they try to reach me through facebook that it is likely I may never see it.  Setting those boundaries is one way to ensure you won’t fail in your follow ups.
4. You know your priorities – I know that I have pushed this down your throat for the past umpteen weeks…but it is important!  You must prioritize your goals for the week and for each day.  You will build your day off your weekly goals, which incidentally builds from your monthly and quarterly and annual goals.  Knowing what you must accomplish each day and blocking time for it means you are one step closer to a productive day.
5. You don’t switch it up – One sure sign that you are more productive than the average person is that you don’t jump from task to task.  For example if you are working on a project then that is your focus.  You don’t stop to check email and social media and then return to the task.

I highly encourage you to go through both of these lists and rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 on how well or not well you are doing on these evaluators.  Be honest with yourself and then make a very concerted effort to improve on 1 or 2 items next week.  At the end of the week (Sunday is a great day for reflection on the week we just completed and planning for the next week), rate yourself again and see if there was improvement.  We all need to be able to measure both our strengths and our weaknesses to improve and grow.  

High Productivity is not easy but it is very simple.

I hope this has given you some tips for increasing your productivity.  Please do me a favor and hit like and share so that others who are high achievers with big goals can have the opportunity to take it to the next level like you are.

If you want to learn more about succeeding at the highest levels click HERE for your free 1:1  60 minute high performance coaching session and lets see what we can do to give you that leg up to success quicker and with less stress.

As always we want you to remember that everything is a choice and it is your choice to Focus Forward.